Exciting times ahead for Indian badminton

The formal split between Saina and Gopi Chand has played a significant role in the development

March 31, 2015 04:12 am | Updated 04:12 am IST

Saina’s decision to leave Gopi’s Academy in Hyderabad to train under Vimal Kumar has yielded superb results for her

Saina’s decision to leave Gopi’s Academy in Hyderabad to train under Vimal Kumar has yielded superb results for her

These are happy times for Indian badminton. Saina Nehwal is awaiting her coronation as world No. 1 on April 3 and a determined Chinese-slayer P.V. Sindhu cannot wait to make up for the time lost to injury.

K. Srikanth is reinforcing his status as a top-ranked player, while his fellow trainees from the Gopi Chand Academy are raising hopes of joining him in the world top-10 list. Who knows, the growing self-belief of Saina and Srikanth may well result in two Indians concurrently holding the world No. 1 spots.

Ironical as it may sound, the formal split between Saina and her mentor P. Gopi Chand has played a significant role, though by default, in these pleasant developments for Indian badminton.

Undoubtedly, Saina’s decision to leave Gopi’s Academy in Hyderabad to train under Vimal Kumar at the Bengaluru-based Prakash Padukone Academy has yielded exemplary results for her.

Given Saina’s temperament and the steely resolve to chase her dreams, she has clearly worked harder since September. Obviously, she was aware that the last time she split with Gopi, in early 2011, the results worsened and she had to desperately go back later that year to the most powerful man in Indian badminton. It suited Gopi, too, and the two joined hands to bring India its first Olympic medal in the sport.

But in the following two years, Saina realised her game had stagnated. She wanted to train differently and Gopi’s strict regimen no longer helped.

They may not have split on a bitter note, but parted ways to prove something to each another.

Hectic training

Saina is training up to seven hours a day, in two sessions, to correct the flaws that crept into her game despite Gopi’s supervision. On the other hand, with Saina away, Srikanth and other trainees have gained extra attention from Gopi.

However, the cold war between Gopi and Saina took an unpleasant turn on Saturday when she chose to snub her former coach by not acknowledging his contribution on reaching the world No. 1 spot.

Saina’s ‘conduct’ didn’t go unnoticed. Mohammad Arif, 71, former coach of Gopi and Saina, said, “Saina should have been more magnanimous. You don’t become small when you acknowledge a person’s contribution in your career or life.”

Obviously, Saina does not care anymore, though her father remembered the role played by Arif and Gopi in Saina’s career.

For those keeping track of even the off-court happenings of the India Open, it was not hard to miss how desperate Gopi was to see Srikanth win especially after Saina’s successful campaign.

After the match, when asked how he dealt with Saina’s indifference, Gopi retorted, “Please, I don’t want to say anything on that. I am happy that Srikanth has won.”

It was clear that Gopi was hurting and Srikanth’s title victory proved more soothing than anything that he felt in the past 24 hours.

Gopi lauds Saina’s feat

Minutes later, asked to react on Saina’s feat, Gopi was at his vintage best. “Fantastic. Last few years have been great for her. And I think to reach this ranking, is amazing for Saina, badminton and for sport, in general.”

So, with a resolute Gopi hungry for more from Srikanth, Sindhu, Kashyap, Prannoy, Gurusaidutt, among others, and Saina equally determined to prove to her estranged coach that she was right in moving to Bengaluru, watch out for some determined on-court performances from the Indians in the year ahead.

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